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Background   Rhodnius prolixus  is a major vector of  Trypanosoma cruzi , the causative agent of Chagas disease in Latin America. In natural habitats, these insects are in contact with a variety of bacteria, fungi, virus and parasites that they acquire from both their environments and the blood of their hosts. Microorganism ingestion may trigger the synthesis of humoral immune factors, including antimicrobial peptides (AMPs). The objective of this study was to compare the expression levels of AMPs (defensins and prolixicin) in the different midgut compartments and the fat body of  R. prolixus  infected with different  T. cruzi  strains. The  T. cruzi  Dm 28c clone (TcI) successfully develops whereas Y strain (TcII) does not complete its life- cycle in  R. prolixus . The relative AMP gene expressions were evaluated in the insect midgut and fat body infected on different days with the  T. cruzi  Dm 28c clone and the Y strain. The influence of the antibacterial activity on the intestinal microbiota was taken into account.    Methods  The presence of  T. cruzi  in the midgut of  R. prolixus  was analysed by optical microscope. The relative expression of the antimicrobial peptides encoding genes  defensin  ( defA ,  defB ,  defC ) and  prolixicin  ( prol ) was quantified by RT-qPCR. The antimicrobial activity of the AMPs against  Staphylococcus aureus ,  Escherichia coli  and  Serratia marcescens  were evaluated in vitro using turbidimetric tests with haemolymph, anterior and posterior midgut samples. Midgut bacteria were quantified using colony forming unit (CFU) assays and real time quantitative polymerase chain reaction (RT-qPCR).    Results  Our results showed that the infection of  R. prolixus  by the two different  T. cruzi  strains exhibited different temporal AMP induction profiles in the anterior and posterior midgut. Insects infected with  T. cruzi  Dm 28c exhibited an increase in  defC  and  prol  transcripts and a simultaneous reduction in the midgut cultivable bacteria population,  Serratia marcescens  and  Rhodococcus rhodnii . In contrast, the  T. cruzi  Y strain neither induced AMP gene expression in the gut nor reduced the number of colony formation units in the anterior midgut. Beside the induction of a local immune response in the midgut after feeding  R. prolixus  with  T. cruzi,  a simultaneous systemic response was also detected in the fat body.    Conclusions   R. prolixus  AMP gene expressions and the cultivable midgut bacterial microbiota were modulated in distinct patterns, which depend on the  T. cruzi  genotype used for infection.    Electronic supplementary material  The online version of this article (doi:10.1186/s13071-016-1398-4) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.

Impact of Trypanosoma cruzi on antimicrobial peptide gene expression and activity in the fat body and midgut of Rhodnius prolixus